“Toil and risk are the price of glory, but it is a lovely thing to live with courage and die leaving an everlasting fame.”

—-

Alexander the Great

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“The time is always right to do what is right.”

—-

Martin Luther King, Jr.

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“I would rather die right then live wrong.”

—–

Bruce McTague

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Well. I believe Alexander’s full quote was:

It is a lovely thing to live with great courage and to die leaving an everlasting fame,

Macedonians!… Why do you retreat?!… Do you want to live forever?!

In the name of Zeus!… ATTACK!

So. I tend to call this “selective thoughtful recklessness.” Yeah. I am not really sure something exactly like that exists but, whether it has a name or not, it is a characteristic of winners and ‘everlasting fame’ as well as a characteristic of everyday schmucks like me who want to do the right thing, desire some everlasting fame as in ‘known for doing good shit the right way’ and am willing to work hard for it <that is the ‘toil’ part>.

This may sound a little crazy but I do believe if you are dedicated to doing the right thing and doing good shit you have to be comfortable assuming some risk.

Now.

I get some shit for my ‘comfort with assuming risk’ <I believe security is if not an illusion it is mostly a superstition keeping people sacred of shit>, my attitude in general with regard to risk, and my general disdain for people who have the absurd principle of ‘making a decision instinctually.’ All that said. I came up with my own phrase – selective thoughtful recklessness. This combination seems to me to be better than simply being rash or foolhardy in behavior. It is better because I have a full respect for consequences and hold consequences in high regard.

To be clear. There is never any absence of forethought <which is where I typically find ‘instinct’ fails miserably>. I certainly have extreme care and concern with respect to not only other people’s welfare but my own. Sure, yes, there may be a bit of daredevil in the attitude but without the flair and debonair style associated with a daredevil.

What is there is a certain defiance to odds once a decision has been made and a complete “In for a penny, in for a pound” attitude. <Cambridge Dictionary: something you say that means that since you have started something or are involved in it, you should complete the work although it has become more difficult or complicated than you had expected >.

My epitaph will absolutely be “I had a lover’s quarrel with the world” but my mantra seems to be captured in what I said upfront … “I would rather die right then live wrong.” That is not courage … nor is it an attitude … it is a choice that simply requires some mental resilience. You feel doubt, resistances to choice and even outright disagreement but someone who embraces the selective thoughtful recklessness remains mentally resilient towards anything that attempts to stop you from doing what you believe, and maybe even know, is right.

And maybe that is where the thoughtful daredevilishness steps in.

In order to find glory <in this case I believe glory is ‘doing what is right’ and not some fame or accolades> you have to first & foremost reframe the story of what is and what is possible. I am not suggesting some alternative universe nor am I suggesting fooling yourself into believing something truly impossible is possible. This is more along the lines of the traditional disruptor definition — seeing the conventional in unconventional ways. By reframing the story the boundaries & limits in the original story become new & different boundaries & limits. Rarely do they align with the old ones and it is within these differences that the ‘thoughtful reckless’ wander.

But this also demands one other thing.

Let’s call it ‘intense listening without attachment.’

What I mean by this is you have to be aware of everything going on around you but you do not necessarily get attached to what is being said. It’s like recognizing the clutter around you and rummaging thru it for the useful and avoiding the useless. This would also include at least being aware of your own biases and trying to un-attach your listening from them as much as possible.

Lastly.

Here is maybe the most controversial thought I will share on finding glory.

Be small. Yeah. I just said ‘be small.’

To be clear. I don’t mean live a small Life but I do mean if you want to find the kind of glory I am discussing, and you want to be selectively thoughtfully reckless, and you want to die right rather than live wrong, you end up thinking about being an energy for ‘doing’ like an atom, or a pebble in a pond, where you make yourself as solidly, strongly and distinctly rightly small — and then choose your path. Thinking about that, well, maybe that is why I balk at ‘daredevil’ so much. It sounds big & flamboyant. I find that being defiantly, and successfully, right in your choice is more often found in the ‘toil’ — in the small stuff and avoiding the small stuff at the same time.

It is more about being solidly small in your solidly rightness.

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“Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else’s hands, but not you.”

Jim Rohn

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And, yes, maybe it is about a small quiet courage found in the everyday.

Do I think I am courageous? Certainly not.

Resilient? Absolutely yes.

But this kind of resilience seems to contain a version of courage that is easy to miss. It is a small resilient courage.

It is the small courage you hold on to … to stay when it is easier to leave.

It is the small courage you hold on to … to keep doing when everything says ‘quit.’

It is the small courage you hold on to … to respect difference when we would much rather judge.

It is the small courage you hold on to … to accept some vulnerability when building a wall feels much safer.

It is the small courage you hold on to … to recognize your own agenda needs to be revised to accommodate another’s better idea.

It is the small courage you hold on to … everyday <even though it takes some ‘toil’ to create it>.

It is the small courage you hold on to … to not only become who we really are … but which enables the better version of who we are.

It is the small courage you hold on to … in a world that often doesn’t seem to encourage courageous everyday acts.

Anyway.

Life isn’t easy. Business isn’t easy. And navigating both shouldn’t be easy. All I can suggest is some selective thoughtful recklessness can help you out on occasion. I can also promise, when done well and with ‘good as an intent’, it gives you a shot at glory.

Just remember.

… it is a lovely thing to live with courage and die leaving an everlasting fame

“Life, too, is like that. You live it forward, but understand it backward.”

—-

Abraham Verghese

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“It’s the one thing we never quite get over: that we contain our own future.”

—

Barbara Kingsolver

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So.

Thinking about what legacy you want to leave behind can make you start thinking a little bit about what you may want to stubbornly stand for and demand of Life … and what you may decide to compromise with Life to insure you have something … some progress to show at the end.

A significant part of this grand bargain we negotiate with Life is how we decide to compromise with those around us and those who affect the arc of our lives.

Ah.

That word “compromise.”

Therein lies maybe one of the most difficult topics of the current generation.

The topic is that the concept of compromise … meeting someone half way … is now a nebulous concept.

Why?

Because I am not sure I know where the hell half way is.

And I tend to believe a shitload of people are standing with me, on one side or the other, not really sure where the hell half way is.

And if you cannot even see the middle ground how the hell can you figure out how to make a stand on it?

Now.

This gets compounded by a massive online communal world in which we all live side by side where even the marginalized people <real or perceived> who now have a place to gather into likeminded groups, share as much a space as mainstream views.

For good, or for bad, online any group of people can organize & mobilize & challenge the status quo … or pick & choose which status quo fits their view.

The internet amplifies discourses critical of … well … any status quo you can think of. And, as anyone could expect, all the critical discourse triggers a corresponding equal backlash from those who fear an uprooting of their beliefs <and the self identities that are inevitably attached to these beliefs>.

It just becomes one huge mosh pit of criticism and cocooning of likeminded people.

People … all who are angry.

Within all of this situation & anger … it seems like no one is civil to one another. And maybe worse is the fact there is this ‘digging in’ aspect where we refuse to see any merit in other people’s opinions.

Sadly, I can only conclude that we have lost the ability to converse, discuss, debate and have a dialogue with one another.

It seems obvious <at least to me> but if we could figure out how to come together and compromise, that we could go a long way toward not only creating a better version of society in general … but it may give me, and all of us, at least a fighting chance with regard to where we make our own personal stand … and where we compromise … and how we attain the future that we contain.

As long as people cling to unbending attitudes & beliefs, the divides between us will not deepen … but will remain an unbridgeable divide.

I tend to believe most of us want better that that.

I tend to believe most of us would be willing to work to make this a better and more civil world to live in.

And if you do not embrace this thinking?

I would remind everyone that America is representative of a great compromise. The U.S. Constitution is possibly the greatest Compromise ever negotiated <it created a nation>.

But as a first step to bettering this entire situation we need to figure out how to better define Compromise.

Far too many loudmouthed people have ripped the meaning out of the word, twisted the value of the word making it seem valueless, and ultimately created an environment in which we demonize the entire process of trying to reach compromise.

Compromise no longer means understanding your differences and working together toward a common goal but now it seems to represent weakness, losing and not being strong enough to get what you want.

This unwillingness to work together has wrought havoc to society where the unwavering stance seems to be “don’t compromise, stick to your guns, don’t give in to the other side”.

Sigh.

Look.

I find it hard to believe that the majority of America is really that selfish and that stubborn.

Sure. I know the people most passionate about any issue tend to be the ones less willing to compromise on them.

And, yeah, I would guess most of us are fairly passionate about ourselves – what we decide to stand for … as well as what we will decide to sacrifice within compromise to attain some progress.

But within this wacky world where no one seems to want to compromise anything on anything … well … shit … some of us are trying to think a little bit about what you may want to stubbornly stand for and demand of Life … and what you may decide to compromise with Life to insure you have something … some progress to show at the end.

It seems like the situation we are in has arisen because we have permitted the stubborn voices of the radical marginalized <real and perceived> to drown out the pragmatic voices of realistic positive compromise.

If we want society to start working again we need to embrace compromise — and let it retain the positive definition which has served it well through time.

To end this I will go back to the beginning.

The “I” aspect.

I tend to believe all of us, with the intent of finding the best version of ourselves from which our ultimate legacy will be defined, will seek to find the balance of being stubborn and demand that Life bend to us and our principles and compromise where we make a grand bargain with Life in order to continue progressing.

Uhm.

If we believe this … then why wouldn’t we want this in Life and in business and in politics and in … well … everything.

There was a book that discussed this. In The Spirit of Compromise <Amy Gutsman and Dennis Thomson> they note that Americans support general compromise as an idea and like the idea of ‘other people’ working together to get stuff done <statistics support this in a variety of studies & polls>.

Oh shit.

However.

The authors then note that support for compromise breaks down when it addresses specific issues <Americans are much less likely to support a compromise on a specific issue>. As with most things in Life we enthusiastically embrace the conceptual behavior and balk at the actual behavior.

Compromise is complex … and simple.

What I do know is that we contain our own future and building that future demands that we will have to make some compromises. That is simple.

Making the specific choices is complex.

And while I am mostly interested in my own future and making my own compromise choices … I tend to believe we would all find the better version of ourself contained within … if the society as a whole were more willing to refind the value in compromise.

“Above all the inner knowing of the detective trumps every piece of evidence, every clue, every rational assumption. If we do not put it first and foremost, always, there is no point in carrying on, in detection or in life.”

Jacque Silette <a fictional detective>

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“The moment of truth, the sudden emergence of a new insight, is an act of intuition. Such intuitions give the appearance of miraculous flushes, or short-circuits of reasoning. In fact they may be likened to an immersed chain, of which only the beginning and the end are visible above the surface of consciousness. The diver vanishes at one end of the chain and comes up at the other end, guided by invisible links.”
Arthur Koestler

So.

One of the things I admire most in people is consistent great intuition.

It’s like the best intuitive thinkers have this amazing microchip in their brains that quickly assimilates information through a number of programs to methodically <if not swiftly> sift through everything and generates this wacky thing called intuition.

Some people suggest this is what your gut tells you <although your brain is whispering in your gut’s ear>.

And not all intuitive thinkers have the same microchip.

Some have a program that sifts and isolates what doesn’t belong … what is wrong … what is out of place.

Some have a program that zeroes in on the extraordinarily good aspect … what is right and should be protected at all costs … what is seamlessly in place.

Some have a program that assimilates disparate pieces of information and intuitively see how it all can create this imperfectly perfect source of something good.

I think many young people don’t understand intuition. Well. Maybe they just don’t understand good intuition.

They certainly don’t understand methodical when it comes to intuition.

I can understand why people like the concept of ‘go with your gut’ intuition.

Because thinking methodically and learning enough to be a good <if not great > intuitive thinker is hard work.

The things we should have thought of could fill an ocean.

And it is one of those things that you don’t know it until you see it or experience it.

A person just doesn’t know what they are capable of until a time comes when you encounter a mystery, a problem, a situation, that pierces their own heart & soul.

That moment comes with a cost.

The cost?

You will never be the same. And it may not be worth it <to some people>.

While you become better … you then carry an additional burden … which sometimes making looking like you used to be … maybe even the sorry fucking thinker you were before … pretty good. And you may want it back … just being a sorry fucking thinker.

But.

You can’t.

Once you learn to be a great methodical intuitive thinker … once you have experienced the moment which has pierced that which was you … you can’t go back to what you were.

Well.

Try explaining THAT to someone who has never been through it.

That is why many people … not just young people… struggle with the concept of intuition.

Rigor … basic methodology … gets honed over time and the microchip on your brain filters information through it time & time again:

“We must not then add wings, but rather lead and ballast to the understanding to prevent its jumping or flying.”

Sir Francis bacon

People who suck at intuition get bogged down focusing on lead & ballast.

People who do not understand intuition get bogged down <well … maybe they just offer jumpy ideas & solutions that tend to fly away as soon as a different wind starts blowing> by not paying any attention to lead & ballast.

Lastly.

Young people do have a legitimate gripe with older folk and ‘intuition.

Methodical intuition is really only as good as … well … two things:

– Information being continuously fed into the microchip

– The microchip is being updated to match the most updated program version

Let’s assume you are a good intuitive thinker.

As you get older there is a natural tendency to look at input on a heuristic level, i.e., seek verbal or visual cues which then unlock a stored away experience or core belief/perception. But what made you a good intuitive thinker was assimilating all information without a filter.

Einstein is usually smarter than this. He is slightly off the mark here.

Uhm.

Well. Maybe he did get it right because he also seemed to have said this:

“Intuition does not come to an unprepared mind.” – Einstein

Okay.

Maybe he was smart <note: tongue in check statement>.

More likely … Einstein simply never said half the crap that people said he said.

Regardless.

Management and decision making by instinct or intuition has reached what I would call a ‘crisis level’ in business today.

Let me explain.

First.

Knowledge is good.

Second.

But knowing what to do with it?

Let’s call that ‘intuition”… well … that is gooder.

Let’s say even excellent.

Uhm.

But that’s a combo meal. Main entrée is knowledge and the side item is intuition.

Don’t like that metaphor?

Knowledge is the science and intuition is the art.

That combination is often called ‘decision making.’

Here is the challenge in today’s business world <and possibly Life>.

The gap between what our intuition says and what data & facts actually say … is growing wider.

What I mean by that is computers and data have the ability to uncover correlation between facts that almost defy common sense … or, at minimum, simply make us scratch our heads and say ‘what?” <or “really???”> … and that discomfort will inevitably lead to a desire to indulge our intuition <as being better than facts>.

So.

This leads to what I call ‘Decision faking.’

Here is where I struggle with intuition.

It’s becoming more and more clear to me that facts are less important to many people. Feelings make decisions, then, and only then, are facts brought in as back up.

Its mixed up … the wrong priorities for good decision making.

Yet.

It is becoming a common business scenario in which intuition made decisions create situations where you end up pulling the trigger first and ask the hard questions later.

This is possibly a general critique of American society … not just business.

Think about this.

Thinking and feeling and intuition is actually a business formula. Without doing any research or deep thought … I would suggest great decision making is maybe an 80/20 Pareto rule. 80% thinking & knowledge combined with 20% feeling or intuition creates a great decision.

Sure. Statistics and facts can lie. But so can intuition and feeling.

In fact. In business studies the data suggests our instincts & intuition <in business> … or ‘going with your gut’ suck. We make bad decisions when based on this.

Great thinking combines all the potential lies and sifts thru it all for truth.

Yet.

When I look at the business world we seem to have forgotten the difference between thinking and feeling. And worse … we seem to believe feeling is more important.

You feel like you are doing the right thing so you do it.

You feel like something is okay because someone told you to do it.

You feel like everything is okay in the end if you can show that why you actually did something was because your feelings were genuine.

You feel like acting on your feelings begets forgiveness for actions and bad decisions.

Well.

I feel that’s a bunch of bullhockey.

Intuition is a grown skill. It is not really something you are born with.

Well. Maybe better said … people can be born with a good intuition muscle … underdeveloped and awaiting to be strengthened … but no one is born with a well-developed intuition muscle.

Therefore you must have the desire to focus on strengthening it. The gym will not come to you … you must go to the gym.

I have also found that business decisions guided by impulse and emotion tend to incorporate a high level of politics and political calculation at exactly the same time.

How will it look?

Who will like it?

Will I benefit?

I imagine taking some time and asking the hard questions won’t alleviate the political aspect … but possibly some time tempers the influence politics have on it. At minimum it shifts the dial slightly away from ‘individual benefit ‘ politics intuition to more ‘group benefit’ intuition.

The debate in business is always on what’s better. To rely on intuition <feeling> or rely on deliberate thinking while making decisions. Fact is in some cases it’s better to rely on feeling and in some on deliberate thinking and the trick is to know which to choose when. But in either case you are using both … simply relying on one more than other at the end.

Intuition should open us to thought … not define the thought.

Maybe it could be used a deterrent … use it to avoid things.

Regardless.

You should always value what your head & gut are telling you.

But it’s the combination … knowledge and intuition which reaps the highest returns.

Here is what I feel <pun intended>.

We need to defend decision making made through knowledge and thinking.

Why?

Because true thinking is … well … innocent.

The deck is stacked against it but in its naiveté it believes if it simply does the right thing <be itself> it will win.

Truth believes if it remains good and just goes out and attend meetings, go to schools, sit down at the kitchen table, go to church and not give a shit about politics and political correctness and just live their lives … well … it will all work out. Truth will win.

Well.

Not so much.

It won’t.

Thinking needs to be protected.

It needs to be protected from intuition as the way to do things. Or maybe we just need to protect ourselves in business from ‘decision by feelings is more important’ type attitudes.

This is not as an easy thing to do nor am I saying it flippantly.

We battle common sense <because sometimes it really doesn’t make sense>.

We battle real knowledge and data <because sometimes it doesn’t look like it makes sense>.

We battle ourselves <we don’t really know what we want>.

“Ours is a world where people don’t know what they want and are willing to go through hell to get it.” – Don Marquis

Well.

We do know what we want.

We want our decisions to ‘feel right’ when we make them.

And sometimes it seems like we are willing to go thru hell to feel that way.

Here is the point about facts and thinking. We have gobs of theories we espouse in business hallways almost ad nausea … but … have enough facts … and the correlations are there <if you look … and think>.

Even if the correlations don’t seem to make sense … or even common sense … the knowledge is there to be plucked from the information available.

The difficulty is that … well … two things I imagine … <1> We are constantly bombarded by information therefore we seem to seek refuge in intuition clinging to some ‘gut feeling’ that seem to make the cluttered world of information available clear and <2> we like to make hasty decisions under the guise of ‘we cant waste our time overthinking this.’

The trouble is that our gut is infamously consistent in that it is often biased by stereotypes and generalizations and … well … frankly … experiences <good and bad … or quantity of versus lack of>.

I say that because while some young people may have good natural instincts … they will inevitably have great instincts when older if they hone it through experience. And the corollary to that is some older more experienced business people will have great instincts … and absolutely better instincts than a younger less experienced instinct muscle.

Experience absolutely hones a natural intuition.

Heck.

Knowledge hones a natural intuition.

Look.

I’m not suggesting you should ignore intuition.

Just that real information and real thinking and the rigor that comes along with the ‘real’ versus instinctual ‘feelings’ is first & foremost the key to great decision making.

If you make intuition your main criteria to making a decision? You are simply decision faking.